Dad’s Good Parenting Helps Daughters Avoid Risky Sex

Dad’s Good Parenting Helps Daughters Avoid Risky Sex

We skipped this one last week but knew that somehow, we’d have to come back to it: the quality of a father’s parenting will have an effect on a daughter’s sex life.

Bruce J. Ellis and company threw down a study that included 59 pairs of sisters in divorce-affected families and 42 pairs from “intact” families. Ellis found that while just living with a father didn’t have an effect on the daughter’s sexual activity (see last paragraph for a caveat), he found that fathers doling-out “high-quality” parenting greatly reduced the likelihood of risky sexual behavior. Poor parenting on the father’s part, however, increased the likelihood of such activity – things like sex without a condom, teenage sex and intoxicated sex.

I won’t question exactly how Dr. Ellis figured out these girls would or did have drunk, condomless sex before the age of 19. I’m assuming that’s just another thing doctors do. And I’m glad I have a son.

Also, if you’re not a numbers-kind-of-guy, you know we’ve mentioned before that nearly every chick that’s been featured on MTV’s “16 & Pregnant” has had an absent father. Though Ellis’ current study doesn’t support the “father’s here, you’re in the clear” outcome, Ellis actually did another study in 2003 that concluded that teens without fathers were twice as likely to engage in early sexual activity and seven times more likely to get pregnant as an adolescent. SEVEN. Facts on that can be found at the National Fatherhood Initiative‘s site.

So now that we’ve got facts, can we vote to have Dr. Ellis leave these teen girls alone?!